-8-[Rockmeet](7) Communism and Murder ((Alternatively: CSI: Rockmeet))
1st Granite Today, after a hard day in the mines, a comrade of mine told me that Quest-JR, the mayor, wanted to see me. Since we are well acquainted, I figured it was good news. Just to let you know in advance, it was. I entered his rather small office. Strange, he had three of his own rooms and furniture made of gold, while the rest of the fort got one room and a bed. When I entered, I greeted him, like any dwarf would, by saying "COMRADE! It has been too long!" He seemed quite content. He stood up and told me "Spoony, I'm sure you know the customs, after one year of ruling, an overseer must step down. I consider my brother's rule and my own rule as one, and therefore, I have ruled for a year. I have chosen you to take the spot of overseer now that I have stepped down." We shooke hands, and he handed me all the fortress's documents. Tomorrow, I shall look at this.
2nd Granite After looking through all of these documents, I am quite apalled by the previous rule of the fortress. All dwarves are equal, however, some are not equal in jobs or personal posessions! I must fix this! Tomorrow, I will begin the conversion of the fortress to a fair and just rule. Also, it's raining honey outside.
3rd Granite Today, I gathered everyone in the dining hall, and announced that as part of my new rule as overseer, everyone can do any job they wish! Not only will things begin to become equal, but jobs will be done faster, with everyone being able to do them!
4th Granite I designated a larger area to be mined today. Hopefully we'll get more stones, we really need them, as it appears we don't have an abundance of materials to build with, and a roof for our outdoor area needs to be built soon.
5th Granite Ha! My grand system of dwarven equality is already working! We only have 2 dwarves with no work, one states there is no work for him, the other is in prison. That reminds me, I need to go through the Justice records soon.
6th Granite I demanded for more beds to be built today, as many dwarves have no bedrooms. I also looked through the justice records, today. Oddly enough, in one of the cases, even though at least 30 people accused one dwarf, and there were no accusation of anyone else, a separate dwarf was convicted. I'm sure it was a mistake.
8th Granite Things have been slowing down among the fortress lately. The empty bedrooms are beginning to be furnished, soon enough every dwarf will be truly equal!
9th Granite Something that my Wife calls a "Hoardmaster" was standing around the entrance to the fort. I ordered all of the dwarves that remained in the military to attack it, they managed to chase it away from the fort. Also, it's raining milk.
10th Granite Only two more beds were built today. Everyone seems to be busy hauling, but once that's done, we will be producing beds faster than that gnoll outside ran away after the Drow merchants attacked him!
11th Granite The Stone stockpile that everyone was bringing stone to is almost full. Most dwarves are now planting seeds, however, all three carpenters shops are preoccupied with making beds, so everyone will have equal housing in the blink of an eye!
12th Granite There is a child attending a party. He is the only one attending it. On a separate note, I am contemplating sacrificing a life to Armok.
13th Granite The Captain of the Guard is chasing a child around the outside of our fort and complaining about being thirtsy.
14th Granite Today I finally took the time to examine our statue garden and public dormatory before decommisioning it in favor of private rooms. As far as I could tell, the statues represented important events in our fortress's history. The first statue was a frost giant striking down a putrid blendec. Since this obviously happened before the fortress was created, I assumed it happened on the ground. Next was a dead comrade of mine rising as a ghost. After that was a statue of a comrade of mine, Zuglar, engraving. Next was first and only event that actually seemed important, orcs attacking our fortress. After that was another putrid blendec, this time eating a dwarf. At this point, I gave up trying to make any sense of the other five statues. I'm curious as to how my comrades slept in here with so many statues of putrid blendecs. I'll have to remember to compliment the mason on how realistic the statues are.
15th Granite Today, as I was bringing some fungiwood in to make more carpenter's workshops, I noticed two dwarves standing by a human pikeman's corpse, punching a frozen skull. I almost yelled at them to get back inside, but then it occured to me that they were PUNCHING a floating skull, which, to my knowledge, skulls are pretty hard. Not to mention, the skull in question is colder then the frozen snow in the mountainhomes. I yelled "KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, COMRADE!" and continued carrying in the logs.
16th Granite Today I figured out why we have such little stone, the archaeologists have been using all of it, breaking the boulders apart looking for "ancient artifacts". I walked up to the area they've set up for themselves, just to discover that all the archaeologists had found was a spear made of obsidian. I told them that they were to refrain from using up any more stone until they are told to do so. I'll begin setting up a roof over our courtyard soon.
17th Granite I noticed we were out of wood today, luckily our comrades, the drow, had arrived earlier, and many goods had been brought to the trading depot. We traded them some armor from the dead humans out front and an invader we'd trapped for all of their wood, food, and an anvil. I was rather suprised that the Drow accepted the offer. We also recieved a grizzly bear from the trade. Truly, it is a symbol of our fortress's eqaulity and greatness. If only we could teach it to drink our dwarven vodka...
18th Granite Three new carpenter's workshops have been constructed. With the wood we have from the drow, we should have all the bedrooms furnished faster than we can move everyone in.
19th Granite Today I made an unpleasant discovery while looking through the tombs in our burial room. My wife is apparently dead and has been dead for quite a while. Not only this, but apparently my youngest daughter died with her. I can't even begin to wonder who I have been mistaking for my wife and daughter all this time.
20th Granite Another unpleasant discover was made by me today. The case I mentioned earlier? The dwarf who was murdered was MY WIFE! Not only has an innocent comrade of mine been put in prison, but the bloodthirsty bastard who murdered my wife and children roams free! He must have edited the files, as they only refer to her as "pike". Her name is Melbil Anerras, and you best not forget it, Zagith.
21st Granite For some reason Zagith won't go anywhere near the room inwhich I plan to crush him under a bridge, even when he has military orders. I'll have to think of another way to kill him.
((CONTINUED IN A COMMENT BELOW))
Posted Jun 15, 2012, 6:09 PM UTC · edited
22nd Granite The deed is done. Today I built a wall in the doorway to the metal bar and rock block stockpile, sealing Zagith in there. Eventually he will starve to death, letting me get off without being convicted. (OOC: It was at this point that I noticed his kill list contained Melbil, my dwarf's wife, even though he hadn't been convicted of the murder.)
23rd Granite Today I spent the entire day listening to local gossip, seeking more information about Zagith. As it turns out, at least a quarter of the fort is related to him, including the mayor. He only has one friend, however, a child. I expect foul play.
24th Granite I ordered a hole dug into the room Zagith is stuck in. Not to save him, but to drop a goblin in. This will garuntee his death, he doesn't have his precious battleaxe now, so I doubt there will be anything to save him!
25th Granite Today I turned my attention back to the files of the murder. The murder happened on the 16th of Felsite last year. This was when the dwarf whom I thought was my comrade, quest-JR, was overseer. Tonight, I shall make a daring journey into his bedroom in order to steal his journal and see if he wrote anything about the murder.
25th Granite, Night I managed to sneak into Quest-JR's room and steal his journal with no trouble at all, he seems to be a heavy sleeper. I flipped through the pages, looking for the section labelled "Felsite" There were only two entries, one on the 8th and one on the 15th, the one from the 15th reads thusly: "Time to turn on the WBS even if it still lacks a few grates. We don't want any more good dwarfs going insane from the stickiness. I've also ordered the whole main staircase smoothed for engraving practice for the masses. I want them to be at least adequate before being allowed to touch the Truth and Reconciliation Room." Bah! He was too preoccupied with his Bath Making and truth room that he ignored AN ACTUAL MURDER THAT HE HADN'T IMAGINED! I'm sad to say, but my former comrade, quest-JR, may have to be disposed of. I'll notify the next of kin.
26th Granite The hole into the room that Zagith is being held in has yet to be dug. In the meantime, I checked the detailed reports on Zagith that the militia commander had. Apparently he has poor empathy. No surprise there. "He almost never feels discouraged" not only does he not care about the fact that he murdered someone in cold blood, he doesn't even care about the consequences. "He is entirely averse to risk and excitement" the militia commander also has him listed as an "Adequate Liar". "He takes his time making decisions" he must have had this planned for a long time. Perhaps he got his son elevated to the position of mayor just for this purpose... "He finds rules confining" perhaps I'll be able to make out a motive for the murder... "He is slow to trust others".
27th Granite I've got it figured out. Zagith decided, before he even migrate to the fort, to murder someone just to display how little empathy he has, and that nothing can discourage him. He only considered it a bonus if he got away, just ot show that not even laws can confine him. He took his time planning it out, making sure to get his son a spot as mayor, so that he could convict someone else. He must have been on to the vampire who was hiding among us from the start. The two were friends, and he encouraged the vampire to murder someone, and immediatly reported him to the captain of the guard, just to make sure the people of the fortress knew he was a vampire. After the vampire finally got out of prison, he decided to pick a target. Of course, he would pick someone in his squad, so he could kill them while they were on the battlefield, lest there were any witnesses. Seeing as he was slow to trust others, he decided to murder Melbil instead of waiting for her to gain his trust. His son, of course, was in on the plan from the start, and made sure to convist the vampire again, since nobody trusted him. However, he didn't count on others accusing him. They knew his personality, and knew he was the type to murder. Another oversight of his was that the body wasn't drain of blood, instead it was cut. In half. It was clear that the murder was comitted by someone in her squad, as nobody in their right mind would be outside during a battle, and the body had been bisected, an obvious sign that whoever comitted it not only possessed a large blade, but knew very well how to use it. This narrowed the search down to only a handful of dwarves, and those that knew Zagith knew that he was not at all empathetic and hated rules, however, nobody was willing to argue with the mayor, especially after the "Murder" that the mayor was investigating. No doubt the bastard would have gotten away with it had he convicted a fellow member of his squadran immediatly, rather then convicting the vampire immediatly.
28th Granite The end of the month draws near, and yet, the hole into Zagith's room still hasn't been dug. At this rate, he'll starve to death before it's dug. Once It's dug, I'll have to decide what to kill him with. Perhaps I'll drop a forest spider in, even if he manages to kill it, he'll sustain major wounds and bleed to death. Perhaps I'll drop a frozen skull in and watch as he slowly freezes to death. Or maybe I'll drop a goblin in and grant him a swift end. ((OOC: I really didn't expect to uncover this giant murder mystery. It will certainly make my turn much more exciting, nonetheless.))
Erm. Uh. How do I express myself.. The murder. Your .. wife's murder.. it happened in a fit of dwarven rage, it is what we all expect happens sometimes. I saw it with my own eyes. I merely used it as an excuse for keeping the vampire in prison longer. As a means to save other lives. You must see this and spare me.
Consider the waterfall system. That is for the good of all dwarves, nobles and ordinaries. That is my work!
-- quest- JR
1st Slate Today I decided to halt the digging of the hole into Zagith's room. I also recieved a letter from Quest-JR, the mayor, who gave his explanation of the incident. While I didn't entirely believe it, it at least confirms that Zagith isn't a vampire, and therefore can starve to death. Once Zagith is taken care of, I'll begin looking at the mayor's history.
2nd Slate While waiting for Zagith to perish, I designated the building of a roof over our courtyard. Building an actual ceiling over the courtyard, which the masons think of as a layer of flooring on top of the walls, would use much more stone than building bridges over the courtyard. The only difference between the two is that a floor is so thick that strong beasts can't smash it, while bridges are thinner and can be crushed into splinters by the beasts easily.
3rd Slate I ordered for large area to be mined out, as we are quite lacking in our stone stocks, and don't have enough for the ceiling of the courtyard. I also requested that all data about the current mayor, Quest-JR, brought to me. I'll begin looking at it tomorrow.
4th Slate Apparently Quest-Jr isn't patient and doesn't go out of his way to help others, traits of his that I learned while talking with a comrade of mine that I knew from out work in the mines, who also happened to be his daughter. The only odd thing I noticed about him was that , in his official files, he is a former member of 4 different civilizations, and an enemy of another one. I would look into this, but we have no files from the other civilizations. The only kills that are listed in the military section of his profile are two white tigermen, no dwarves. However, he is only 16 years old, and arrived 2 years ago. I'm pretty sure that he was manipulated by his father. He must have been manipulated into convicting the vampire. The only mystery that remains is whether Quest-Jr modified the case files himself, or he gave them to Zagith to modify.
5th Slate In an attempt to boost morale I started a worker's union. Naturally, I'm the leader.
6th Slate In an attempt to boost morale among the worker's union, I asked everyone why they seemed to be so unhappy. Apparently it's because they witnessed death recently. I checked the records, the last death in the fortress was 2 months ago, during the last overseer's rule. I told them to get over it.
7th Slate Today, a dwarf came to my bedroom and informed me that they couldn't make ropes out of sand like I'd told them to. We also have enough beds for every dwarf in the fortress, it is now just a matter of moving all the beds in and assigning bedrooms.
8th Slate Today I began assigning everyone beds in the small complex of beds. Everyone now has their own bedroom in the complex, all of which are equal in value, not to mention that we have nearly 30 bedrooms to spare, and even children and babies have their own rooms.
9th Slate Apparently a ghost just gave one of the children of the fortress a fever. That doesn't sound particularly threatening, but I had the crafters begin making a slab and engraving it in order to put it to rest.
10th Slate The Hoardmaster has been following the mayor around for two months now. I decided to send the military after him. He's dead now.
11th Slate An axedwarf just threw a tantrum and punched someone's brain out.
12th Slate While going through the older justice files, labelled "cold cases" I noticed one in which someone was accused by many and not convicted. I convicted the accused dwarf, even though he was already dead. There were several other cases of murder in which nobody had been accused. I let those sit until more information turns up.
13th Slate Today, the Captain of the guard finally considered the corpse of the engraver that was punched to death by the axedwarf to be found. I immediatly convicted the axedwarf. Hopefully he won't have any disputes with the other prisoner.
14th Slate The axedwarf was dragged away today, when he decided it was a good idea to put something in a bin in the same room as the murder occured.
15th Slate I think Zagith is starting to get thirtsy. I pressed my ear up against the wall to his room and I could hear him parying to Armok for some booze. Outside it began raining sheep's milk, but he can't reach it as he has no way to get outdoors. Obviously Armok is on my side in this dispute.
16th Slate The issue of antmen in the underground caverns was brought to me today. The antmen have been gathering for quite a while now, there are about 30 of them waiting down there. However, they don't have armor or weapon like goblins do, and aren't nearly as strong as frozen skulls. I decided to briefly break down the barrier blocking off the caverns and send in the militia. We'll see how they fare.
17th Slate Today I was mining while waiting for the barriers into the caverns to be broken down, and I found some collapsed bricks underground. Perhaps we've hit some kind of curious underground structure? I was also informed that some fish dissector began running around and babbling in the dining room.
18th Slate While mining that weird underground structure I found some kind of trap! I'm not sure what exactly it does, but I didn't want it doing anything to me, so I told someone else to mine it and activate it.
19th Slate Oh Armok. The antmen noticed that the barrier is down. The military is charging down as I write this. I pray for rockmeet.
20th Slate Oh Armok. The antmen killed the Militia commander without even one of them dying. Hopefully the rest of the military can handle them. Some migrants have also arrived. But judging by current events they'll be dead by next month.
They've made it to the dining room. I fear Rockmeet may be at its end...
They're in the the entrance and workshops.
21st Slate So far 23 dwarves have been hunted down by those demonic antment. Currently I'm hiding in my room in hopes they don't find me.
22nd Slate They have yet to find me, the population has dropped from 84 to 56.
23rd Slate 51 dwarves remain. They aren't killing dwarves as quickly, at least.
24th Slate 43 Dwarves are left. Many of them seem to be gathered by the entrance.
25th Slate 41 Dwarves remain. At this point, even if we manage to fend off the antmen, we'll have to deal with dwarves going berserk over the deaths of their family and friends.
26th Slate 41 Dwarves are still alive, many of the antmen have gathered at the entrance to the caverns.
27th Slate 39 Dwarves. The second wave of antmen are coming up. Most of the cage traps are filled now.
28th Slate As the end of the month, and possibly the fortress, draws near, the second wave has ascended to the entrance. 33 dwarves are left alive in the fortress.
1st Felsite 24 dwarves are alive.
2nd Felsite 15 dwarves remain. On the bright side, antmen lack the manual dexterity to open doors.
3rd Felsite 9 dwarves remain. Turns out that antmen actually can open doors.
6th Felsite 5 Dwarves remain, I haven't been able to write as much as I have been busy fleeing.
9th Felsit I'm the last one remaining, I've managed to hide myself in the bar and block stockpile with Zagith, the room actually has armor and weapons, too. I took some and put them on. I can hear the antmen scratching at the walls. It's time to go out and attack...
Is this the end?
Unfortunately, yes. The antmen were much stronger than I anticipated and killed everyone.